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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oryan77" data-source="post: 5179039" data-attributes="member: 18701">This tip is exactly what I do and I never thought of it as being something worth mentioning. But you're right, it is important and it does work! My wife tends to be the one that constantly asks the most random questions to NPCs when we're playing. It will be something that is not important at all, but she'll find an NPC interesting & will want to know more about this person, even when I just created that NPC right then & there. So I'm taken by surprise a lot and I stall for time by doing pretty much what you suggested. It does help keep the roleplaying going without killing the mood.Focusing on the background and foreground issue, I'd like to offer some more advice by adding futureground as being important....it's a word, trust me, I wouldn't say it if it wasn't a real word.What I mean is, if a player creates a backstory, then use it. Implement some portion of the backstory into the game no matter how small of a role it plays. Even if it has nothing to do with the current adventure, it will still liven up the world and make it seem more real. Not only does this get the player of that PC more interested in the PC, the other players usually get interested in that PC also. If planned out right, it should hopefully get the PC talking and the player roleplaying. And when the other players are blind-sided by this scenario, they might even be curious enough to join in just to figure out what in the world is going on. Here's an example of this from some recent sessions of ours:I recently introduced a Paladin NPC who was the leader of the Cleric PCs old Holy Order (according to his History). The other players had no clue who this Paladin was, and the Cleric player was surprised to see him in game. So he enjoyed being able to discuss his history with the NPC and tell the other PCs who the guy was. And of course, my wife was intrigued and started talking to the Paladin. When I described the Paladin as having a handle-bar mustache, my wife's PC began telling him that he needs to shave that thing off or trim it down. Everyone laughed about it, tried really hard to convince him to shave it off, and he just kept explaining that women from his country find it to be a turn on and he does quite well with the ladies. We had some good roleplaying fun and then moved on with the game.The Paladin joined the group on the current adventure, and now the Cleric has a personal friend to relate to since he's the only non chaotic PC in the group. A few sessions later, the chaotic PCs got into some mischief again that embarrassed the Cleric again, and upset the Paladin. So I had the Paladin tell my wife's PC that he'll shave off his mustache right then and there if she'll promise not to steal from a merchant again, or at least while in his presence. Focusing back on the mustache amused the group and they all got a kick out of it. This led back to another 15-20 minutes of immersed roleplaying and had absolutely nothing to do with the adventure. But it helps get people more involved with their PC and hopefully gives them a feeling for how their PC acts; which should help encourage them to roleplay thier character in the future on their own.</blockquote>

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